Europe had an emphatic 16.5 – 11.5 win over the USA at Marco Simone Golf Club that shocked the world, but why did the USA fail so miserably?
Team USA captain Zach Johnson was heavily criticised after the opening day after USA found themselves down 6.5 – 1.5 points after the first day, having not won a single match.
Johnson picked a team in which nine out of the 12 players had not played a tournament in over five weeks leading up to the Ryder Cup, leaving team USA severely under prepared for what for some is the most important tournament on the calendar.
Another factor leading to the capitulation of the US team was their top players such as Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka not playing to their highest ability.
Scheffler and Koepka are both major winners, but they were embarrassed by Victor Hovland and rookie Ludvig Aberg in the Saturday morning foursomes, getting beat by a record margin of nine and seven.
Koepka showed the complete wrong mentality towards the end of the match, where at times he looked like he didn’t even want to play, and Scheffler after the defeat was seen crying into the arms of his wife.
Scheffler was then later benched by Johnson in the afternoon four-ball matches, which is unacceptable in a Ryder Cup when you have the world number one on your team.
What kind of example does that set to both his own team and team Europe? Leaving out their best player because he couldn’t cope with loss.
The USA were also completely unprofessional in the Saturday afternoon matches when Patrick Cantlay’s caddy was seen waving his hat into Rory McIlroys face whilst his was trying to read a putt on the 18th green.
This incident then continued after the round in the car park where Cantlay’s caddie was seen arguing with McIlroy who was eventually ushered into his car by close friend and teammate Shane Lowry. This is wildly unprofessional and did not make the US team look very good as they were already being humiliated on the course.
However, to USA’s credit this seemed to fuel their engines and gave them enthusiasm going into Sundays singles matches where they did fight hard and made the score closer than most anticipated, but I am sure captain Johnson would rather see his players engines be fuelled by their own performances rather than petty arguments made by caddies.
As much as the USA under performed across the weekend, team Europe played out of their skins and claimed their redemption from Whistling Straights two years prior.
Captain Donald set up the course perfectly for his players, eliminating team USA’s strengths and turning them into an advantage for his players. Which resulted in an unforgettable win for team Europe in the Ryder Cup.
